Tesla has opened a new charging station in Düsseldorf, Germany, with 20 Superchargers and 8 additional chargers for electric vehicles manufactured by other automakers. The new charging station is powered by solar and wind energy, including a large solar roof. For those familiar with the area, the new charging station is located at the intersection of the motorways A3 and A46.
The new station is the result of a partnership with Fastned, a company with the stated purpose of building a network of electric vehicle charging stations across Europe. Fastned is providing the 8 additional chargers, which can provide up to 300 kW in charging speed. The company claims that it can add 300 miles’ worth of range to an average electric vehicle in as little as 15 minutes.
Although the new Fastned station currently has 28 chargers, it can apparently only handle up to 8 vehicles charging at the same time. The company has said that it will prefer to get that up to 22 cars.
According to a statement from the company, Fastned is currently seeking real estate to complete its planned network of 1,000 stations and begin possible expansions to existing stations. CEO Michiel Langezaal said:
“In order to power the exponentially growing number of electric vehicles, we need a lot of big fast charging stations. I call upon landowners that share this vision to contact us, so we can join forces and see if we can realise a Fastned station on their site. Together we will build the infrastructure of the future!”
Snacks and beverages from the Seed & Greet Bakery will be available to customers while they wait for their vehicles to charge.
Progress Also Being Made on Gigafactory Berlin
With the increasing demand for more environmentally friendly options like Tesla’s electric vehicles, Tesla is also pushing forward with completing Giga Berlin, a factory that will be capable of manufacturing up to 500,000 cars every year. Tesla expects the factory to be ready for production as early as July 2021.
The new Fastned simply gives CEO Elon Musk a head start in building the renewable energy-powered charging stations needed to power the cars that will be manufactured at Giga Berlin in a more sustainable way. Elon Musk has indicated that one of his goals is to make gasoline-powered vehicles obsolete. While measures like California’s requirement that all new cars sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035 certainly won’t hurt, infrastructure like Fastned’s new charging stations will be even more critical for keeping up with the demand in a sustainable way. Fastned is positioning itself to take advantage of a possible future in which electric vehicle charging stations will be as common as gas stations are today.
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